Catching up with ‘Project Runway’ champs Geoffrey and Shantall: Winning the show is when the real work begins [WATCH]

“Project Runway” season 20 is well underway with All-Star contestants competing for another chance at the title. But what can the winner look forward to after the show is over? In the latest “Runway” after show, season four winner and current mentor Christian Siriano caught up with season 18 champ Geoffrey Mac and season 19 victor Shantall Lacayo. Watch above.

“I never imagined that after the show it was going to be actually harder than being in ‘Project Runway,'” Lacayo confessed. “After ‘Project Runway’ you feel a relief that everything’s finished, but then the hard work starts. We worked on our rebranding. We changed the name from ‘Shantall Lacayo’ into ‘Shantall’ … And last week that you were with us we had the opportunity to be with the buyers from Saks, and Nordstrom, and all the stores. So this is fashion business, and yeah, it’s been very, very hard.”

“Let’s tell the people now exactly what I’m saying,” agreed Siriano. “The real world business is so much harder … You have to keep doing it.” Though “Project Runway” can be grueling, with designers forced to create runway-ready looks for a wide variety of challenges in just one or two days, there is a game element that makes the stakes lower than what you’ll experience when you’re actually trying to navigate the business of fashion. That’s why part of the prize package for the “Runway” winner is a mentorship with the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

As for Mac, he confessed that he’s still a worrier, but isn’t the “frazzled” mess he was when he competed on “Runway.” He also wore for the aftershow one of his company’s best sellers, a jacket with gathered, extendable sleeves. Siriano wants one.

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